


Beauty in the melancholy

by Taniushka12



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: (kind of?), Flirting, M/M, Melancholy, abandoned buildings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-06 01:25:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18378107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taniushka12/pseuds/Taniushka12
Summary: Peter takes Martin for a walk down the coast, where they encounter an old decaying building. They talk.





	Beauty in the melancholy

**Author's Note:**

> shoot out to @abandonedandurbex on tumblr for filling my dash w/ extremely aesthetic pics of abandoned houses or facilities and unknowingly inspiring me for this lil scenario ! (that... apparently deleted sometime this week between me writing this and posting it, damn)

 White, smokey grey and a dark blue. Those were the colors that covered his field of vision on that cold winter evening.

 The rain had stopped some time ago and Martin had been surprised to hear Peter's suggestion, to talk outside, walking down the coast. They could very easily talk there, he had said, where he had the computer to show him his progress and where they had a pretty good heater, but with a smile the man insisted that they both needed to have a walk. After all it _was_  beautiful outside.

 So, there they were. Jumping from the fogged folded space and ending up on a coast forgotten by the world, bordering constructions half build or just half destroyed by the merciless sea, the splash of muted colors in the algae growing out of it and the stark contrast of its dark form against the white canvas of the sky and the inert snow. Martin didn't notice that they both fell silent until he felt Peter's hand pat his arm before getting closer to the dying monument, and he reluctantly followed.

 The building they approached was even more impressive from up close, towering over both of them and casting a shadow on the angry sea, offended to be left out of the picture after years of constant abuse. Martin shivered, a cold wind sweeping to his very bones, before noticing Peter's expression. He was smiling. Almost, he dared to say, warmly, at the sight of it. Why? Why would he look with such fondness at a half destroyed building? Why would he take him there, as well?

 He didn't even realize that he kept looking at him until his dark eyes met his, and as the white silence and the clash of the sea surrounded them he finally tried to speak his way out of there.

 —What are we doing here?

 —What do you think?

 —What?

 But as they spoke at the same time his question got buried, and his surprise taking advantage of.

 —Well, what do you think of this place? How would _you_  describe it, what would be... the feeling of it?

 —I...—He squinted— Is... that why we're here?

 —Please, Martin, I heard from good source that you're a poet. Indulge me.

 He could feel the nearly sardonic tone behind his smile, but there was something on his eyes that spoke of truth. As stupid as it sounded. "Poet". He knew his poetry wasn't the best, and was far from good in general, and if he was right his good sources were far from encouraging, but he also knew he couldn't get away from it. Although he wouldn't give him the satisfaction of trying, stammering, to make poetry.

 —It's just... sad.

 —Oh?

 —It's sad. I mean I look at it and I don't know if this building was ever finished and destroyed or just, left like that...

 He could see its skeleton, thick metal bars enclosed by the cement, stairs only half made and broken down by the years and the water, and dark cables pouring down the ceiling like a willow. The pale, all-consuming light of the cloudy sky revealed parts of it that might have not been visible on a regular day, letting Martin see the nests of birds that he couldn't begin to recognize, full of plants he might have remembered the names of, once. The blackened wet concrete that crumpled both the ceiling and the ground of it, shimmering with the receding water and the decaying snow. They were standing at the feet of a long dead giant, its corpse rotting slowly for who knew how many years and for how much more. It was...

 —Beautiful, isn't it?

 His entranced stare snapped at the comment, only then noticing how Peter was looking at him. Deeply.

 —I was thinking more... Melancholic. And desolated.

 —Ah, yes. Melancholy. But tell me, isn't there a certain beauty to it? —He smiled—. A house decaying by time and abandonment, a cold palace full of ghosts, the sweet memory of something better that was never truly real, a man... —There was something in the way he looked at him, crow's feet pronounced for a few seconds before sighing—. There is beauty in the sadness, Martin, you of all people should know that.

 Martin didn't know which was worse, the comment, or the fact that Peter intended it as a compliment and _he knew it_. He looked at the corpse again, feeling cold but already too used to it to keep shaking. He... didn't Not see it, to his dismay. There _was_  something there, in the composition, in the salt of the sea, in the smell of the plants, it swept inside of him like when he boarded The Tundra. It felt like when he saw its captain, smile gone and looking at the horizon...

 He swallowed, recoiling at the idea and trying to stop himself from shivering. With a slight shake of the head, he turned to look at the sea while the silence finally settled over them, the roaring dark water swallowing every thought he prefered not to have. Feeling the thin snow starting to fall again around him, shadowed by the monument at his left and wishing, just for a second, that he was alone.

 And it was so cold.

 And it _was_ beautiful.

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea for some time now, how the feeling of nostalgia and melancholy tied with loneliness and how an avatar could find it beautiful and stuff ~~and peter wanting to appeal to martin from that angle as well~~. AND since last weekend I was sick and in bed I ended up writing it u_u
> 
> Hope you liked it !!


End file.
